When You're Gone
by ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess
Summary: One shot for the awesome NellyLove. Chris is gone, and his wife Kayla misses him so much, but is everything what it seems?


_Disclaimer: I do not owning anything but the story... And the stray OC's that only appear for like 10 seconds. Period. Kayla Green belongs to the wonderful NellyLove. The rest belongs to their respectful owners._

_Authors Note: NellyLove was kind enough to write me a fic, and this is my gift in return to her. ^_^_

* * *

_(Third Person POV.)_

Kayla Green sighed as she sadly sat on the bed, glancing at her husband Chris's side of the bed. He hadn't slept there in over a week, and she missed him a lot, but that was a small sacrifice to make when married to a superhero.

Chris, also known as the superhero Jericho, was away in the Florida Keys fighting the likes of JBL, Miss McCool, The Big Show, the Miz and the Brothers of Destruction. Other superhero's, known as the Hurricane, Captain Charisma, the Mattitude, the Rainbow-Haired Warrior, and the Hart Dynasty, were working with Jericho to stop the powerful bad guys.

Shaking her head sadly, she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV across from the bed, resting on the pillows as she watched the news.

"Today the Hart Dynasty and Jericho battled the Brothers of Destruction and The Big Show in the Florida Keys. Theresa Nells reports." The woman on the news said before the shot switched to that of destruction.

"Today law enforcement officers watched in horror as the Brothers of Destruction and The Big Show stormed, once again, the Florida Keys, raining chaos down." A blonde woman walked through the rubble as Kayla shook her head. Hard to believe that three men could cause that much damage. "What we are about to show you is shocking."

Kayla leaned forward on the bed as the footage rolled.

The camera was jerky as it showed Jericho fighting, on his own, Kane as the Hart Dynasty fought The Big Show and the Undertaker in the background.

Kayla covered her mouth in horror as Jericho was losing the fight, attempting a Lionsault to take Kane down, only to have Kane send him flying into a building.

"No!" Kayla cried, tears running down her face.

"Are we rolling? Are you getting this?" Theresa was heard to ask in the background as Jericho attempted to stand, only to have Kane kick him in the ribs, Jericho crying out in pain.

"No! Get up! Fight!" Kayla cried, her brown eyes full of fear and sadness.

Kane picked Jericho up by his shoulder-length dirty blonde hair before throwing him into a building, the building collapsing at the impact.

Kayla screamed, horrified, as Theresa gasped over the TV. Kayla felt her heart breaking into a million pieces as Chris didn't appear again.

"I think- I think we just saw the… Oh my- he's coming this way- RUN!" Theresa yelled, Kane stalking towards them as the cameraman took one last glance before running away.

Frantic knocking sounded downstairs as Kayla sobbed. "No! Chris! Chris! No!" She cried.

"Kayla? What's wrong? Kayla?" The retired superhero who was their neighbor on one side, known as Tazz, shouted downstairs. He had used the key they had hidden under the back doormat to get into the house.

"Kayla? We saw the news!" The neighbor on the other side, Amy, the wife of the superhero The Mattitude, shouted, running upstairs with Tazz.

"He's dead! No!" Kayla cried as Amy hurried over to her.

"It'll be okay. He'll be fine." Amy said as Tazz turned the TV off.

"I'll- I'll never see him again!" Kayla cried.

Amy and Tazz weren't quite sure what to say. They'd seen the footage… And weren't really sure if Chris was okay.

"I miss him Amy, I miss him." Kayla said around her tears.

Amy hugged Kayla, patting her on the back as Kayla sobbed into her shoulder. "I know, Kayla. I know."

* * *

_Four months later…_

They had had a memorial service for Chris, burying an empty casket, and now here Kayla was, four months later, cleaning the house.

For a few weeks she had barely left the house, only leaving to get groceries and to go to work for her job with Cirque de Soleil. The rest of the time she would stay at home, looking at photo albums of her and Chris together, hoping and praying for him to return.

She missed him. A ton.

The littlest things she did reminded her of him, and it left her devastated sometimes. Cleaning the dishes reminded her of all the times Chris weaseled out of doing the dishes. Watching movies reminded her of all those times she would fall asleep in his arms only to wake up to find the movie over, the TV still on, and Chris asleep too. She had never felt that way before.

Cleaning was the worst, so that's why she had avoided cleaning as much as she could the last four months.

She couldn't avoid it anymore.

Deciding to start with the bedroom, Kayla pulled her brown hair back in a high ponytail before grabbing the hamper to start collecting clothes.

She tossed her laundry in the hamper before looking at one corner of the room. For how sweet Chris was, he always forgot to put his laundry in the hamper.

Tossing his clothes in the hamper, smiling a little as she heard his voice in the back of her mind telling her not to bother, the clothes would be back in the corner tomorrow, she felt a little better.

One of his t-shirts- which had been tossed over there because he had to leave because of his "job"- was pretty much clean... Save for the giant ketchup spot on it.

She held the black shirt in her hands, studying the faded writing on it. He'd picked it up from some tourist trap out in Morocco when they'd been there for their honeymoon.

Her eyes misted over as she remembered that.

"Oh Chris," she sighed, throwing the shirt aside.

_I'm not going to cry. _She ordered herself, hurrying over to the closet.

Sighing, she opened the closet doors, looking into the walk-in closet. They had shared the closet, but she had stayed out of it as much as she could since…

Shaking her head, she started going through the clothes for anything that needed to go to the drycleaners.

Stopping, she felt tears come to her eyes as she found a white and black checkered shirt he loved. It was hideous, but she never said anything about how ugly it was because he loved it, and she loved him. Now…

Shaking her head, she took it off the hanger and held it up to her face, resting her head against it as she smelled hints of his cologne.

_I miss him so much._ She thought, tears streaming down her face, as she decided to keep that one out of the closet and close to her. She needed a reminder of him.

Shaking her head, she put the shirt back on its hanger. She'd take it back out again later.

She hurried out and carried the full hamper out of the room, smiling sadly. She missed his strange habits like tossing clothes in one corner of the room, and she missed him.

_Lost: Soul mate. If found, please call me. _She thought with a sad grin.

* * *

As Kayla continued cleaning she wondered if Chris was watching from Heaven.

_I need you Chris. Please- let this be a nightmare. Let me wake up. _Kayla silently begged in her mind.

But it was real. She wasn't going to wake up.

Kayla's heart was still broken, and she knew it. Everyone did. Tazz couldn't get her to laugh. Amy couldn't cheer her up with her favorite cookies. Adam couldn't make her smile, and he always could do that. No amount of chocolate, music, or sleep could mend it. Nothing helped.

And nothing probably ever would. Kayla and Chris were two of a kind; heart ache like that never would go away.

* * *

Soon Kayla had the laundry going and was back in their bedroom, collecting the things she would need for work that night.

She could have sworn she heard the front door open downstairs, but the front door was locked, and Tazz, Amy, or Adam would have called if they were stopping by, so she determined it was just the wind as she continued packing before taking her bag downstairs.

Leaving the bag on the kitchen table, she went back into the hall, stopping to pick up a picture of Chris and her she had left on a table in the hall. It showed them in Hawaii on "vacation". Really- Chris was working on preventing The Big Show and his wife, Vickie, from bringing pineapples to life- she had never gotten the full story behind that one- while she was on vacation.

Shaking her head, she put the picture back and went back to the basement.

The lights were off.

She tried the light switch only to have the light not respond. "Huh. The light bulb must have gone out. Great." She grumbled. Glancing at her watch, she groaned in frustration. "I am not leaving that laundry in the washing machine, but I don't have time to hunt for a flashlight." She shook her head before heading further into the basement, slowly, of course, since she couldn't see.

Kayla made her way, slowly, over to the washing machine, before her shoes connected with a pile of something and she tripped, cursing.

"Nickel for the curse jar." A familiar voice said as her heart stopped.

Maybe the front door had been opened… And maybe she didn't need to miss him as much…

"Jericho?"

"Nope." He said, standing in one of the darkest corners of the basement.

"No? Then who are you?" Kayla asked, backing away.

He followed her as she stopped, her back to a wall.

"Stay back- I can fight!" She warned, more than a little afraid.

It was true- Chris had taught her an arsenal full of techniques in order to defender herself should the need ever arise.

It hadn't, though.

He chuckled, stopping right in front of her. It was too dark to see who he was, but he had short spiky hair, so it couldn't be Chris.

"I'm Chris," he said, placing one hand on the side of her face.

She closed her eyes, tears forming behind her closed eyelids, before her eyes flew open, her brown eyes flashing in anger.

"Where have you been?" She asked, pushing him.

He chuckled, pulling her into a hug. "In hiding."

She growled, breaking free of the hug and marching over to the washing machine, tripping over that pile again before she opened the washing machine and started blindly putting wet clothes in the laundry basket. "You mean for the past four months I assumed you were dead when really you were in hiding?" She asked angrily.

"Yep." Chris said proudly. "I did a good job, didn't I?"

She tossed the laundry in the dryer, turning it on, before whipping around to face him. "Oh yeah, you did a great freaking job. You creep! I thought you were dead!" Kayla screamed, turning and storming back upstairs.

"Kayla baby- wait!" Chris shouted, running after her. She could hear him trip over the pile, which she had deduced to be laundry that he had just tossed on the floor, before running upstairs after her. "Stupid uniform." He muttered, confirming her suspicions.

"I can explain everything." Chris said as he followed her down the hall to the kitchen table where she grabbed her bag before turning around to glare at him.

His hair was short, but he was still the same- well, and he was wearing different clothes. He was dressed in a leather jacket, black t-shirt, blue jeans, and black boots.

Suddenly she felt a bit… Plain, dressed in an old white t-shirt, blue jeans with holes in both knees, and old sneakers, not to mention not wearing any makeup and her hair was pulled back.

"Look, the team and I agreed that I needed to going into hiding if we were to ever to get that loser Kirk Angel-"

"-Kurt Angle, Christopher." Kayla said flatly, crossing her arms.

Chris winced. When she used his full first name, it meant he was in trouble. "I'm sorry- but we needed Kurt to come out of hiding so that we could finally catch him. I'm sorry." He repeated, looking at the floor.

Kayla thought for a moment, trying to think of something to say, when Chris spoke again.

"We're soul mates, two of a kind, us," he said, looking her in the eyes, "you know that, right?"

Kayla looked into his blue eyes before sighing and dropping her arms. "Yeah, it's just… I- I thought I would never see you again. I…" Kayla's next words were cut-off as Chris pulled her into his arms, kissing her before leaning back.

"All I ever wanted while I was gone was for you to know that I was still alive. I could barely breathe at the thought of being without you, and I was so afraid that you would move on to some other guy." Chris said, looking into her brown eyes. "I'm so sorry baby. Can you forgive me?"

Kayla felt more tears fall as she nodded. "I forgive you Chris. I couldn't… Couldn't think when I thought you were dead." She said before breaking down into tears, Chris hugging her. "Please don't leave me again! Please Chris- I don't know if I could survive it if I thought you were dead again!"

"I promise baby- I'll never do that again." Chris said, holding her.

Kayla's heart felt like it was whole once more, and that was good. Everything was back to normal. Chris was back, so life would return to normal.

"I love you." Chris said, kissing the top of her head.

Kayla smiled. That was all she needed to hear to know that everything was going to be all right. "I love you too Chris." She said. "I need you in my life. Never leave me."

Chris chuckled. "I promise you- from now on Jay can be the one going into hiding." Chris said.

She laughed, looking up into his sparkling blue eyes.

Everything was right. Her heart was whole again.

Then his phone rang and he winced. Work was calling.

"I miss you." She said, kissing him quickly. "Go- they need you."

He smiled at her, kissing her quickly as well, before turning and running back into the basement. He reappeared seconds later in his uniform. After blowing her a kiss, he dashed out the back door.

She smiled, crossing her arms. Everything was back to normal.

* * *

_I hope this was a good fic. Review if you want, don't if you don't want to. Sorry it took me so long to write the story!_

_Flamers will be ignored. Or, for all you Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness fans out there... A proto will appear with wrapping paper and chewing gum._


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